Bowe Bergdahl previously washed out of Coast Guard, new Post story reports

[BMT (RIP)]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/c...pisrc=nl%5Feve

BMT

[PSM]

Question: Is this guy Airborne or not? He's got the beret and is in the 501 PIR, but I have yet to see a photo with wings on his chest.

Pat

[Streck-Fu]

I read an article in which a platoon member stated that he was not jump qualified but assigned to fill a billet.

[PSM]

Originally Posted by Streck-Fu

I read an article in which a platoon member stated that he was not jump qualified but assigned to fill a billet.

Thanks! That's what I was wondering.

Pat

[JJ_BPK]

Three years before Army. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl disappeared from his small military outpost in eastern Afghanistan, he enlisted in the Coast Guard and left after 26 days due to psychological reasons, according to a new Washington Post story published Wednesday.

The story reports exclusively that Bergdahl received an “uncharacterized discharge,” which applies to individuals who are released from duty before completing 180 days of service. No reason was specified, but friends of Bergdahl told The Post that they were worried about his emotional health at the time.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/c...pisrc=nl%5Feve

BMT

Interesting.

Given an “uncharacterized discharge" is not like OTH..

Does anyone in the recruiting pipeline cross ref SSN's to prior service records??

I can see Bowe lying about his prior to get in, but a RED light should have turned on in someones cubical...

[Utah Bob]

Looking at excerpts from his diary where he talks about "voices" makes me think somebody dropped the ball on this guy!

[CSB]

Depending on what his "RE" code stated on his DD-214, he may have received an:

RE-2 = required only a local waiver (Recruiting Command) to reenlist;
RE-3 = required a HQDA waiver to reenlist;
RE-4 = no waiver authorized. May never reenlist. Ever.

Start with the last -- the RE-4 -- reenlistment eligibility.

If he enlisted in the face of an RE-4, then it was a fraudulent enlistment.
Void from the beginning, as well as a federal crime. But mother Army is
very good these days in researching prior enlistments thanks to automation,
so I doubt RE-4 applied.

If he enlisted after receiving the appropriate waiver for an RE-2 or RE-3
classification, no problems.

If he enlisted in the face of an RE-2 or RE-3 reenlistment eligibility without
obtaining the appropriate waiver, it is a fraudulent enlistment, but with this twist:

The Army can approve a retroactive waiver IF the waiver could have been granted
at the time of his enlistment. The choice belongs to the Army, not the soldier.

STORY TIME:

I actually had this situation in Korea in 1974.

My company clerk had grown up in an Amish or Mennonite family, (one of those
conservative religions where the women wear long sleeve dresses and bonnets;
and the men wear suspenders and straw hats.)

For some reason, he decided to serve his country and enlist during the Viet Nam
war. He didn't make it out of basic training. There were men using foul
language, using the Lord's name as a curse word, reading pornographic
magazines. Men were walking around the barracks naked (and up until the day
he enlisted he had never seen another person naked -- male or female -- not
even his brothers.) The toilets had no dividers, just a row of toilet bowls in a row
(ala Full Metal Jacket). He freaked out, and received an uncharacterized "Trainee
Discharge" with an code of either RE-2 or RE-3.

A few years later, having matured and experienced some more of the worldly life,
he wanted to make good on his prior effort to serve his country, so he reenlisted
without disclosing his first enlistment and discharge, and without obtaining the
required waiver. This time he did fine, graduated basic, AIT, even made some
rank. It was when he was required to get a security clearance that his prior
enlistment was discovered. He admitted everything. What to do?

As the JAG informed us, we -- the command -- could request a retroactive waiver
because the regulations in effect at the time of his first discharge would
have allowed the soldier to receive a waiver. We filed the appropriate paperwork
(the soldier was an excellent company clerk) and the retroactive waiver was
granted.